


Demons Inside (BATIM)

by Dimonds456



Series: Demons Inside: Full Work [1]
Category: Batim - Fandom, Bendy and the Ink Machine
Genre: Abuse/Recovery, Action, Adventure, BATIM, Demons inside, F/M, Inkoliss, Its just rare, I’ll add more as we go, Metal abuse, Minimal Shipping, Multi, TW: Blood, TW: Light gore (NOTHING TOO EXTREME), TW: Some body horror (NOTHING TOO EXTREME), TW: light swearing, Trauma, ace rep, bi rep, lgbtq+, like seriously i dont know how to ship people, pan rep, there’s fluff in here I swear, tw: abuse
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-04-03
Updated: 2020-04-03
Packaged: 2021-02-28 21:34:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 5
Words: 7,630
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23454106
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Dimonds456/pseuds/Dimonds456
Summary: Joey Drew has been a kind man for all of Bendy’s life. He’s very rarely done any of the six Toons wrong, and when he has, he made up for it as fast as he could. It’s been a peaceful 25 years. But, one day, literally overnight, he snapped. No one knows why, no one knows how. Now, his behavior is irrational, unpredictable, and even scary. It’s been just shy of two weeks since he changed.Can the Toons figure it out and change him back? Is that even possible?But, with a new threat lurking in the back of Bendy’s mind, a difficult task may have just proven itself to be impossible...This is a rewrite of a fanfic I have over on Deviant Art which got turned into a comic. As the comic is currently on hiatus, I have decided to upload the fanfic here. The formatting will be a bit different (and more organized), so please, enjoy!
Relationships: Henda, Henry Stein x Linda Stein, Sammy Lawrence x Susie Campbell, Samsie - Relationship, Thomas Connor x Allison Pendle
Series: Demons Inside: Full Work [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1687267
Kudos: 5





	1. Prologue

It was late on a summer’s night. The studio was a warm temperature, the sepia walls and brown floors comfortable despite their hard texture. The wood creaked silently under the weight of all the dirt piled on top from the Surface, but nobody woke. Nobody minded. They’d been living with those noises for 25 years. 

The clock on the wall tick, tick, ticked away, the time reading right around 2:15 A.M. It was quiet, an eerie noise that didn’t fit the studio very well. It’s sparse walls were made to be filled with the casual step of shoes, the warm conversations of friends, or the shouts across the office from coworkers. The studio had been quiet for years now, sans the six who lived there now, so the silence was normal. 

But this silence wasn’t welcome. It sounded  _ off, _ if such a possibility could exist. It was eerie, almost spooky, even though nothing about the atmosphere was scary. That fact in and of itself was disturbing. But, what else was new? A lot of usually normal things were eerie these days.

Charley, Barley, and Edgar had left the other three Toons to go and sleep out in Heavenly Toys- a bold move, as they were now more out in the open. However, it was much more comfortable there and they didn’t seem to be afraid. Or at least, they tried not to show it. He had a sneaking suspicion that they were afraid, though.

Everyone was afraid right now.

The other two Toons- Alice Angel and Boris the Wolf- were now sound asleep in the kitchen area of the studio. There was a side room with a hammock and a cot in it, on which the Toons slept. Alice Angel slept soundly on the cot while Boris had taken the hammock, where he usually crashed with or without the  _ threat _ hanging over them. 

Everyone seemed to be asleep, peacefully dreaming of a better life. A previous life. One that seemed so far away, but in truth, was only just shy of two weeks ago.

Everyone, that was, except one Toon.

Bendy the Dancin’ Demon was wide awake. He crossed his arms on the desk, oversized four-fingered gloves holding the opposite arm. His spear-headed tail was hanging out the back of the chair, swaying and twitching nervously. His grey bow tie rested on the table, the ribbon clinging to the cartoon’s chest. The curves of his head marked out horns, for which Bendy really didn’t have a use other than to portray the fact that he was a demon. Other than that, he was hardly one at all, which was part of why his character had done so well in the public eye.

His head churned with different thoughts and ideas, all with varying levels of darkness. They were not evil thoughts (Bendy rarely ever got those, and even then, the worst he’d ever done had been a prank or two); they were haunted, terrifying, stripped bare of any positivity. Bendy grasped at them, trying to catch one and latch onto it. But, his head was spinning too fast- he had too much to think about. 

For starters, he was trying to understand why their creator- Joey Benjamin Drew- had suddenly gone off-the-walls crazy. He had been a friendly guy before, but just short of two weeks earlier, he had suddenly dropped everything that made him “Joey” and had instead adopted a careless, reckless, isolated personality. That was basically the exact opposite of what he was. Was that even possible? Could humans change that quickly? The Toon only knew the one, so he had no others to compare him to. 

Sure, he knew other humans  _ existed. _ Joey spoke fondly of a lot, but his favorite seemed to be a guy named Henry. He and Henry still talked sometimes, but never face-to-face. Joey always had to write his friend and go Outside to put a letter in the mailbox. He did that with a few friends of his, but none as frequently as Henry. 

Secondly, Bendy had to try and figure out exactly what Joey was doing. He had begun moving everything upstairs around, putting things in weird places, literally turning tables- he even began burning wooden things like chairs! None of the Toons had ever seen anything like it. 

Lastly, the man could always listen to reason. Joey was a very kind person who went out of his way to make sure the Toons were safe, warm, healthy, happy, and so on and so forth. There was only one other time where Joey had gone mentally unstable, and that was when other humans on the surface began threatening to lock up the animation studio they all called home for good if Joey couldn’t buy it back. He did, fortunately, but it had been close. And even then, the one time when Joey turned on the Toons, they were able to calm him back down with a few reminders of good memories. So far, the Toons had tried that three separate times on the new Joey- nothing worked.

Bendy frowned, his pie-cut cartoon eyes squinting, still trying to just focus on one thing out of the thousands of thoughts flying through his inky brain. It was starting to take a toll on him, too. He snuck another glance at the clock, sighing. 2:30. Another 15 minutes had passed.

Bendy sighed internally.  _ Up for hours, and still no closer to figuring him out, _ he thought. _ Rearranging upstairs, ignoring us, not feeding us, pushing us away… and for what? Nothing. Did that one day in the woods mean nothing to him? _ He thought about that day. Thirteen days ago, almost exactly two weeks earlier, Joey had decided that it was time to start introducing the Toons to the Outside world. They had gone into the forest surrounding the studio, taking in the colors and sights and smells. They had topped off the day with a picnic, but then as soon as they all went to bed that night…

Bendy sighed, once again consumed with overwhelming thoughts.  _ Maybe sleep’ll help,  _ he reasoned with himself. _ I’ll ask Charley what he thinks in the mornin’. _ Charley and Barley were both smart, but Barley had a doomsday vision of what all was happening. Charley would be more open to new ideas and to actually solve the mystery of this weird new Joey.

It was worth a shot. 

Bendy sighed. Normally, he’d sleep in his room upstairs, but it was too close to the upper floor for Bendy’s liking. All the Toon’s rooms were up there, but no one wanted to sleep near him. It was too risky. Too scary. Having nowhere else to sleep (no way he’s going to Heavenly Toys, not with Joey like this), he laid his head down on the table, closed his eyes, and forced his mind to relax. 

He thought about the happy memories, the fun times, the teasing and pranks. He thought about his first living moments. That day when he was first spat out the nozzle of the Ink Machine, he looked up. The first thing besides his own gloves that he saw was the eyes of a man who had just watched his own child become born- a man who was so accepting. Joey Drew. Bendy thought about the first time they held hands, how used to that feeling he would become. He thought about their family photo, taken when all six Toons had been created, and how happy everyone was (they even got Barley to smile- now THAT’S an achievement). Then, it was on to the pranks and jokes, but also the bonding and the unconditional love that started to grow between each of them. Enemies became brothers and rivals became sisters. Of course, there was only the one girl in their whole, messy family, but she didn’t seem to mind. If she did, she never said anything.

Joey had become something more, too. But then, there was Joey’s drastic, literal overnight change.

They had decided to give him the family photo- that’ll snap him out of it, right? They had been wrong. Joey had snatched the thing from Bendy’s hand, ripped it in half, and then knocked Bendy backwards. What happened next was something he would never forget. Joey’s usual brown eyes were a startling blood red. His grin was huge, and he looked down upon Bendy with an insane glint in his new bright red eyes. As Joey began to advance, Bendy felt that rush of panic. He shot upright, scrambling backwards, shouting “N-NO! STAY BACK!” It was only then that Bendy realized that he wasn’t in that memory any longer.

He was now in a dark place overflowing with ink that spread in all directions for miles.


	2. The Demon

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Bendy awakens in a strange place, and quickly finds that he’s not alone.

If Bendy thought that the studio had been creepy, this was nerve-wracking. There were no walls, no floors, just ink that stretched out to meet each horizon. The sky was pitch black, matching that of the ink, so it was hard to tell where exactly that horizon was, but it must be there, right? There was always a horizon line. 

Bendy stood up cautiously, noting how deep the ink was. It just gently lapses at his cartoonishly-oversized boots, so not too deep. Nothing to be worried about, although it may make running a little bit harder. He took a mental note of that. 

He himself was also made of ink, but not like this. His and the other Toon’s were much thicker and had a different texture, depending on where you looked. It was odd to describe, but different parts of them had different thickness, creating different textures that mimicked skin, blood, (wet) cloth, and other things of the like. This stuff surrounding his shoes was watery, and almost see-through in some spots, not unlike their blood. “Uhh…” Bendy murmured aloud, taking note of that, too. Just a touch disturbing. Eugh. 

He looked away from the ink gently lapping against his ankles, taking in the space around him. There was nothing here. “Hello?” He called out.

His voice bounced around until it disappeared into the blackness, but strangely, it came back. Or, no, that wasn’t his voice.

“Hello.” The new voice was deeper, layered, confident, and just from the way the word “hello” was presented, Bendy could tell that this newcomer meant business, and knew exactly what was up and down here. However, as Bendy looked around, he couldn’t find a source. The mystery voice was nowhere to be seen.

_ Where…?  _ Bendy wondered, befuddled. “Who are you?”

The voice didn’t answer immediately. Then, it replied curiously, “strange. I would have thought you’d recognise me.”

“I’ve never heard your voice in my entire life,” Bendy responded irritably, crossing his arms. “Whadya want?” When the voice didn’t answer, Bendy’s annoyance gave way to frustration. “SHOW YOURSELF!!” He stomped his foot on the ground, sending splashes of ink up into the air around him. Not too high, but enough to get his legs wet.  _ Oops. _

The voice was, again, quiet. Then, it began again, calmly, as if it had just realized what it was about to say. “You’re scared.”

Bendy blinked. “What?” 

“You’re nervous.  _ Joey _ really did take a toll on you. There’s no need to be afraid. I’m here to help you.” The voice had happiness in its voice, like it’d been waiting to say that for a long time.

“Why do you want to help me,” Bendy asked it, suddenly really,  _ really _ suspicious. He crossed his arms, cocked his hip, and stared straight ahead, as if looking at the source of the voice. He now knew what the thing was- invisible, a layered voice, sincere and yet evil. “I can tell- you’re a demon. Real demons have no interest in helping others unless it’s to their own personal benefit,” he scowled. Joey’s voice rang loud in his ears in warning against this, sending a pang of brief sadness through the cartoon’s gut.

“Isn’t that why Joey first created you,” the demon responded smugly. “To show that stereotypes are often false and cruel? You’re a demon for a reason, you know. After all, people don’t normally associate things like rabbits to ordinary acts of evil.” 

“I suppose that’s true,” Bendy replied slowly, thoughtfully. He relaxed, continuing to stare off at the same spot as if looking at this demon himself. “Alright. Why are you here, then?”   
  


“I have seen your problem,” the demon said simply. “You and I, we’re both smart. I saw what  _ Joey _ had been doing to you, how he changed overnight. And for no evidential reason, which just makes the problem worse.” 

Bendy took note of how much emphasis he kept putting on the word “Joey,” as if it were important somehow. He blinked, thinking. 

If he continues to be like this,” Mystery Voice continued, “one of you may get hurt. You may even get  _ killed _ .”   
  


“So?” Bendy retorted after a short hesitation. “How does this affect you?”

“Still going on about stereotypes, are we,” the demon replied, a hint of both amusement and irritation in his voice. It had that same tone as someone who’d just rolled their eyes. “I just want to help a fellow demon out. Is that so wrong?”

_ I’m not a demon, _ Bendy shot back in his head, but bit back the response before it left his mouth. If this had been 25 years ago, Bendy wouldn’t have hesitated to say that aloud. At any other time, he would have taken a moment to appreciate how far his character had come since becoming a physical, real, living being. But not now.

Instead, Bendy narrowed his eyes, surveying the terrain again. “Kinda hard to tell when you can’t see the person you’re talking to,” he stated plainly. He tapped his foot, light slashing noises echoing throughout the vast, open space. That, and something else. Bubbling sounds popped from below him. Bendy looked down at it, confused. Then, from the bubbles, something sprouted up. Bendy took a few steps back, staring up at the much bigger figure that had just spawned in front of him.

The demon looked exactly like Bendy, but taller with a larger bowtie, no boots, a bigger tail, hooked gloves, and ink covering his eyes. When he spoke, Bendy saw his grinning mouth lined with pointed incisors.

“Better?” the demon asked sarcastically, tilting his head to the side in a puppy-like way.

“Uhh,” Bendy started, taken aback, “y-yes, this is better, thanks.”

The demon dropped the smile and took a more serious posture. “I had to appear in a form you could recognise,” he said. “If I appeared as myself, we might not get along quite as well.”   
  


_ Form? _ Bendy thought to himself, confused. 

The demon must have sensed his bewilderment. “Sorry,” he said sincerely, “I just don’t want to step off on the wrong foot.”

Bendy hummed to himself, thinking on that for a second. “Alright, I can see that,” the Toon replied. He crossed his arms, looking at the demon with a dead serious face (something that looked quite odd on him). He knew the demon was going to try and get something out of this, there was no way that that wasn’t what he wanted. “So, what do you want from me in return, my soul? I’m a demon, like you.” He smiles ruefully to himself. “I don’t even think I have one.” 

The thus-unnamed demon facepalmed, letting out a long sigh. “Bendy, for the last time, I’m not here to hurt you! I just want to help!” He made a head movement that, again, was akin to eye rolling. “Sheesh, you’re stubborn!”

“That happens when one of your key characteristics is caution,” Bendy replied, still not phased. Normally, he’d be grinning after a snarky remark like that. 

The demon seemed surprised for a moment, seeming to realize this fact for himself, but then looked away, smiling. “Right,” he laughed to himself. “Sometimes I forget where you originated from.” 

_ How could you forget that? _ Just by taking a single look at him, you could tell Bendy was a cartoon character, created to entertain. The exaggerated body proportions, the white, circular face, the gloves, the large boots, and more so the unnatural black pie-cut eyes he now blinked were all dead give-aways. How did this demon “forget where he originated from” when he looked like nothing you’d see out in the world? Bendy frowned, once again not trusting him. There was something about his demeanor. Too casual about all this.

The demon turned back to Bendy, once again dropping the smile. “Anyways, I don’t want your soul- which you do have, by the way. Every living thing has a soul. But that isn’t the point. The point is-”

“Hang on,” Bendy interrupted. “You said I have a soul.” He took a step forward, throwing out his hand for emphasis. “Well, I wasn’t given life like most creatures, so how do I-”

Fed up with Bendy’s interruptions, the demon stretched out his arm toward the smaller toon demon. From his upturned hand, there was light, and then a heart. The suddenness of it shocked Bendy into silence. It was a dark grey heart, flipped upside-down. However, the glow emanating from it was an almost pure white color. It bobbed up and down slightly, the glow growing dimmer and stronger in a rhythm of life.

“Hold out your hand,” the demon ordered.

“Is… i-is that your soul?” Bendy was stunned.  _ But… demons don’t have souls… do they? _ He wondered.  _ Apparently they do. _

“Yes, and if a demon can have one, then so can you.” The demon’s expression hadn’t wavered. He gave Bendy a glare-like look, sans the eyes. “Now, hold out your hand.”

Too stunned and intrigued to object, Bendy obeyed. He held his gloved hand palm-up just in front of him. 

“Good,” the demon complimented him. “Now, this’ll feel weird…”

And so it did. Bendy could feel a large part of himself- the spiritual side, he reasoned- leave him. Light started to glow from Bendy’s palm. Pure white light gathered here, swirled around a few times, and once all the light had left his body and joined the rest in his palm, the light combined to form one of the most beautiful things Bendy had ever seen in his entire life. 

The upside-right heart was pure white, glowing a blinding light that, too, was pure white. The glow was at least three times as bright as the other demon’s glow had been. Bendy looked at it, shocked, fascinated, intrigued, hypnotized… he brought the thing closer to him, unable to look away.

“Every living thing on or off this world has a soul,” the demon said slowly, making sure to reinforce this point. 

“I…” What should he say? This heart, this soul- what words could describe it? “I don’t know what to say,” he finally decided. And it was true- he was speechless.

“Then say nothing,” the demon continued. “Just look at it in all its beauty.” He let that sink in a moment before continuing. “That soul is precious, Bendy. Irreplaceable. If you were to lose it- if you were to die- that soul would disappear. It would fade away. Then who knows where you’ll go, if anywhere.” The demon walked up to the Toon, finally breaking the smaller demon from his trance. The demon pushed Bendy’s soul back into his body with a hand, the glow slowly fading away as it reentered. The Toon in question felt more complete once it was back with him. 

The demon gave Bendy the most serious of faces, no joking in his voice now. “A demon in heaven?” He continued. “You certainly don’t deserve Hell, though. So who knows?”

Feeling guilty about having not trusted the demon before, Bendy looked away at the compliment. He rubbed his arm in embarrassment. “What do you… you know.” He asked, inquiring once again about payment.

“I just want to help,” Demon responded calmly. “I’ll need a physical form, though, meaning I’ll need to borrow your body.”

Trust gone once again, Bendy shot him a look of suspicion. “Wait,” he half-murmured, “how will I get it back?”

The demon smiled at this, all too happy to show off his teeth. “You’ll just have to trust me.” When Bendy didn’t look convinced, he continued. “I know you’re skeptical. You have every right to fear me. But, I am just trying to help you get rid of Joey. Just let me help you.” He held out a hand for Bendy to take.

Bendy stared at it, frozen. “You know what?” He said suddenly, still not trusting a word that came out of this guy’s mouth. “I want to give life another shot.” He pointed a thumb over his shoulder comedically. “If I reason with him, maybe he’ll see light. Maybe-”

“Don’t you get it?!” The demon suddenly snapped. “Joey is GONE. He’s basically dead! There’s no way to pull him back from this!” Then, he got close- real close- and screamed in Bendy’s face. “Just LET ME HELP YOU!!” 

From out of nowhere, a bright red light appeared floating just a few inches from the demons’ forehead. It created a shape Bendy had never seen before, but still understood what it meant. It was a large circle with a smaller one in the middle, and on each circle was a pentagram. The larger of the two that was attached to the larger circle was pointed upwards, while the smaller was pointed down. 

Bendy, wide-eyed, was scared into silence.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading this far! I have past Part 4 written, I’m just going back and proofreading as I go along. So I apologize for not releasing everything at once! But, I have these already uploaded on DA (minus the In-Betweens), so if you wanna keep reading or go and try to see what all’s changed, feel free to do that. My username is the same over there as it is here.
> 
> I apologize in advance for all the SU stuff you’re gonna see there. Not sorry, though. :P
> 
> Just a quick thing: the word “sans” means “without.” So if any of you Undertale nerds or meme lords were confused while reading this, hopefully that clears some things up!
> 
> Anyways, I’ll get back to editing and posting tomorrow! I don’t have a schedule, so I can’t guarantee anything, bu more than likely a couple of new chapters will be uploaded tomorrow. Might even get through Part 1. Who knows.
> 
> Leave a comment if you enjoyed!


	3. Go With the Flow

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Bendy awakens from a nightmare... or what he hopes is one, at least.

Realizing what he had done, the demon immediately began to backpedal. “I’m sorry,” he said, holding up his hands in a mock surrender. “I didn’t mean to-”

The Toon spun around and took off a wild look in his eyes.

“Bendy?” The demon called out. “Where are you going? Bendy! Come back! COME BACK!”

But, of course, the scared toon demon kept his current course, looking back in terror for only a moment before turning around and running faster. The real demon stood where he was, not giving chase. He didn’t have a reason to- in fact, he had several reasons  _ not _ to. He just hoped that he hadn’t scared Bendy to the point to where he…

_ No, can’t dwell on that, _ he thought.  _ There are bigger things at stake here. _

With a grin, the demon ran his hand up his face, wiping the ink off of his right eye. Able to see 20/20 again, he watched Bendy run for a second longer, chuckling. He had expected this to happen, although he had been so close to just getting it up-front, without any of the… well. That would have been nice to avoid, but alas, it is what it is. Poor guy. He didn’t deserve what was coming to him.

He wasn’t looking forward to what he had to do, but he’d do anything to get out.

“So predictable,” he told the void around himself as he clenched his fist. His red eye rolled, and he chuckled to himself. Cartoons. They never changed, did they? “Step 5 is almost complete. I just need a few more hours…” 

With a snap of the demon’s now taloned fingers, Bendy stopped running and flopped over, his “body” melting away into the ink as his real eyes opened, finally waking from his slumber.

ﾟ.*･｡ﾟ-

Bendy opened his eyes slowly, feeling as if he had been hit with a giant hammer. He felt heavy, groggy, not unlike it had when he had drunken all that alchohol in that one episode back in the ‘20’s. Although he technically hadn’t really experienced it, the memory was still there as if he had. And he remembered it quite vividly, thank you. 

Sitting up from the table, he stretched. “‘At wuz a weird dream,” he said, his words slurred due to the yawn that stretched his mouth open. When he relaxed and brought his arms back down, he noticed something.

He wasn’t in the kitchen.

“Huh?” He asked aloud, taking in the room. The table he had fallen asleep on was nowhere to be found, and in its place was a desk. It was covered in papers, old songs, and in the corner sat a near-empty well of ink. Behind him was a black pipe labeled “FLOW” in big, bold letters, donning a wheel underneath it to regulate the pressure of the dark liquid coursing through it. The room itself was small and cramped, small enough that the Toon would walk the length of it in just three strides. Although he was taller than he was in his cartoons, and therefore had longer legs, that still said something significant about just how small the room was.

There was a long hallway that sat just off to Bendy’s right, donning several shelves all the way down. That would take more than a few strides to tread, but eh. Didn’t matter. He’d figure out what was going on in a moment. For now, he needed to figure out how he got here.

_ The Ink Flow room.  _

_ Why am I here, _ he pondered.  _ I don’t remember walking down here… unless… I had better check, just to be sure. _

Standing up, the Toon peered around the corner of the wall next to where the desk was. Sure enough, the door on the other end of the hallway was closed. 

Bendy felt a cold sweat break out as his panic began to rise. Fighting to keep it down, Bendy charged toward the door. He slammed into it with his shoulder, trying to see if he could just bust it open, but the metal door didn’t budge. Surprise surprise. It opened and closed like a garage door; he’d have more luck if he flew at it sideways, but without cartoon physics, there was no way for the very real cartoon to pull that off. Instead, he tried to pry it up from the bottom with his fingers. Still nothing. 

“Come on, come on,” Bendy growled, frustrated. “Let me OUT!!” As he yelled, he leaned back a bit, which in turn made him lose his grip on the door and sent him flying backwards a ways, landing on his butt. He didn’t fall over, but took the opportunity to calm down. “There’s no way to open it from the inside, is there?” He murmured himself, disappointed. He sighed. “That’s fine, I’m fine. I’ll just wait for someone to let me out. No need to panic.” 

Just as he finished saying that, someone screamed. However, it wasn’t a human scream- this was a howl. A wolf howl.

Bendy looked up toward where the sound had come from as if he could see through the ceiling. “Boris?”

The howling continued, more shrill this time.

He felt a rising panic in his chest. Standing, Bendy continued to look up as if he could see the canine. “Boris?!”

Then, it was quieter, but still definitely Boris calling out in fear. “No, stop!” The wolf cried out. “Please!” After only a second more, the wolf howled again, only confirming to Bendy that it was a howl of pure agony.

“BORIS?!” Bendy screamed back, hoping his pal could hear him. When the howling only continued, Bendy charged the door again, slamming into it. When that once again didn’t work, Bendy looked up in Boris’ general direction. “I’m coming, pal! Just hold on!” And he meant it. As Boris continued to scream above, Bendy worked away at trying to find a way out. He slammed the door again, but still no avail. He tried prying it up once more, but once again, nothing happened. He let himself fall back again, giving up on lifting the door. “Uhg,” he shouted, angry. “There better be another way out.” He turned around, looking for anything he could use to escape with- a gent pipe, an air duct, anything. “There’s nothing here…” he murmured after a moment, numb with dread and anxiety.

He would have thought that a cease in Boris’ screaming would have been a good thing, but alas, this is not that kind of tale. Bendy looked up sharply, his panic reaching a new level that he didn’t even feel in his memories of the cartoons (which is saying something- he’s come face-to-face with the Devil himself and has been almost cooked alive over a fire before). This sudden silence could mean so many things, and all Bendy could think of was the worst. 

“Boris, please, PLEASE be okay!” Bendy yelled upward. “I’ll find a way out, I promise! I’m coming! Please just be knocked out or something…”  _ Please… _

He continued his search for something to use to escape with or by. Still nothing. Being made of ink, he tried sliding his hand under in the hopes he could melt down that way or something. Nope. He slammed into it again and again, hoping maybe to knock something loose. Nice try, but still no. He tried dislodging the door by getting into the gears. Not only could he not reach those, he couldn’t even work his gloved fingers into the slot between the door and the wall. Nothing, nothing, nothing. 

Finally, he gave up. Exhausted, he sat down square in the center of the hallway, facing the door. “I’m sorry, Boris,” he apologized. “I couldn’t help ya…” He looked at the ground, feeling tears welling up in his eyes. However, they were quickly blinked away by rage. Bendy growled, frustrated. “Why is this happening?!” Bendy screamed out, finally releasing all the emotions he’d kept bottled up for the past two weeks. “He just snapped! What did we do wrong?! What?! We got that last cartoon out on time, we went and had fun outdoors for the first time, we were a family! What happened?!” He panted, needing air. Then, he took a deep breath. “I have to think straight,” he told himself. “What did that other demon say last night?”

He tried to remember, but the memory was already fading. However, it popped back up as if by force and the weird demon-him’s voice played out once again in his mind.

“I have seen your problem,” he had said. “You and I, we’re both smart. I saw what  _ Joey _ had been doing to you, how he changed overnight. And for no evidential reason, which just makes the problem worse. If he continues to be like this, one of you may get hurt. You may even get killed.”

Bendy’s heart skipped a beat with horror. “He… he  _ KNEW! _ ” Bendy thought aloud, raging inwardly. “He  _ knew _ this would happen! And I knew it, too…” He suddenly felt a weird calm, as if all the horror and dread had been stripped away. “Why did I run away?” He scolded himself, still in his blissful, eerie calm. “He was just genuinely concerned about us.” He laughed, the high-pitched sound echoing loudly around the room. “Gosh, I’m stupid! I had the chance to fix everything before it even broke. The lamp was teetering on the edge of the table for almost two weeks, and we all knew it.” He stuck his hand out and moved it in little wave-like motion for emphasis. “Now it’s finally falling toward the ground. I could have let him catch it. But did I? Of course not! Why?  _ Because I’m a dumb cartoon who thinks that everything will turn out alright in the end, that some cushion would cartoon-physics itself underneath it! _ ” He realized with a shock how crazy he had just sounded, and forced himself to relax. He took another deep breath, focusing on his surroundings. “Again, I gotta think,” he said aloud. “Think, Bendy,  _ think _ ! How do I get outta here? I can’t open the door normally or break through somehow. I tried all that. There aren’t any vents in here either. I could go through the pipes, but that might drown me. ‘Sides, it’ll flood the room, drowning me one way or the other.” He suddenly felt hopeless. He was about to flop over and just stare at the ceiling when another memory of last night’s encounter forced itself into his mind.

“That soul is precious, Bendy,” the demon had said. “Irreplaceable. If you were to lose it- if you were to die- this soul would disappear. It would fade away. Then, who knows where you’ll go, if anywhere. A demon in heaven? You certainly don't deserve Hell, though. So who knows?”

Bendy felt numb. Boris’ howls had been cut off. Just gone.  _ If I were to die, that soul would disappear. _ He looked up once again, praying to whatever deities might hear him. 

“Boris… please… don’t be dead,” Bendy murmured, almost inaudible. “I can’t help you after all… I’m sorry… this is my fault…”

He could feel every emotion he’d ever had- fear, sadness, rage, joy, all of those- suddenly rise into one mass of feelings he couldn’t even begin to understand. Happy memories of he and Boris together, the whole family, everything they’d ever done, cartoons or physically. The sadness of getting betrayed by the Gang in the cartoons (when anything gets animated, he suddenly retains those memories as if they’d really been there), the rage he just had, all his anger bubbling over…

The fear of losing everything he held dear…

He curled up into a ball, huddled with just himself, fighting to keep back the tears that were already flying down his cheeks.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As I was going back and proofing this, I realized just what an odd spot to start from this story begins on. I should have started two weeks ago, maybe a bit more, just to really show development so everything comes with more emotion and a bit more of a shock. Dunno, might rewrite these later. Which would make that the third or fourth time I’ve rewritten the beginning of this story. 
> 
> I’ve rewritten DI plenty of times. The ending has 6 alternatives at this point. It’s just odd that I’ve never once really touched the beginning. I fleshed it out a bit more, but that’s it. Dunno. Y’all who know this story already, what do you think? Lemme know if this was an odd spot to start on.
> 
> For people who only just found this fanfic, I wanna hear from you, too. Was this a weird way to start off? Just kinda thrown into the conflict? You don’t have to answer right away if you wanna read a bit more before coming to a solid answer, I’m just curious. I feel like I could have done this better.
> 
> Story of my life lmao.
> 
> But still. Leave any critiques or comments you have down below. I’d love to read them!


	4. Him

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Bendy gets a visitor.

Just based on the way that his energy was magically back up, Bendy knew that morning had finally arrived. He didn’t get up, though. Why would he? He’d gotten no sleep, and besides, you only get up if you have things to do. How could he be busy when he had just basically heard his friend get murdered and he was helpless to stop it? He was still kind of numb from the realization. 

Bendy was curled up in a little ball up on the topmost shelf on the left side of the hallway facing away from the door. He was close to it, however, and had birds-eye view of whoever would be standing by it when it finally slid open. He had been facing the wall, though, and had to turn over to truly see who it was. 

The first thing he saw was humanoid legs cast in shadow on the floor. He felt hope blossom in his chest.

“Boris?” He asked softly, soft enough that only the wolf would have heard him with his larger ears.

He was disappointed only for a moment before the emotion gave way to hate when he saw Joey standing by the door instead. 

He was back to wearing his normal blue color- something he hadn’t done since this craziness began- and his favorite sky-blue/cyan jacket. He had light brown hair, dark brown eyes- well, they  _ were _ brown- almost caucasian skin, and pretty big hands. His jeans were a darker shade of this, and his dark brown boots were laced with ink. He only owned one pair, and because the ink looked splattered on, it was highly suspicious that he would have that on his boots but not the rest of his outfit. It was almost like he changed right before he came here, which only screamed terror louder for the Toon. 

That shade of black and the thickness of the splat matched up perfectly with Toon blood.

The man peered inside for a second, then seemed to remember something. He put a hand playfully to his mouth and called out, “Beeeeeendyyyyyyy, oh, Beeeend- oh, there you are!” Joey had spotted the Toon still laying cat-like up on top of the shelf. “We were getting worried about you! We actually put our game of Hide ‘N Seek on pause while we looked. Fair to say, you won.” 

Bendy glared at him. Hide and Seek? Was he  _ joking? _

“Hey, what’s with that look?” He asked the angry Toon, obviously pretending not to see his hatred. “Come on down. Let’s go show the others we found you.” When the faux demon still refused to move, he sighed. “Oh, come on, Bendy! You trust me, right?”

“Not particularly,” the Toon responded, sitting up a bit. “You haven’t exactly been kind these past 13 days. Yeah. I counted ‘em.” He pointed accusingly. “What was that all about?”

Joey smiled knowingly, as if he had been anticipating this. “Well, I had just got papers saying that people were coming to close up the studio for good. I just got really mad, that’s all.”

Anger continued to build inside Bendy. “That’s a lame excuse,” Bendy retorted. “Especially since that’s happened before and you handled it way differently.”

Joey froze. Caught red-handed. “Oh, u-uhm…” he stuttered, “well, no matter what happened, I know I made a mistake. I just wanted to-”

“And what was all that with Boris,” Bendy continued, his voice growing in volume. “I heard him screamin’ out in pain earlier, and then he just stopped. He got cut off. What did you do to him, Joey?  _ What did you do?!” _

“He fell down the stairs! He got cut off because I shut his jaws, looked him in the eye, and said ‘calm down!’” He put a hand on his hip, looking dumbfounded. “Geez, it’s almost like you’re accusing me of murder or something!” This was obviously meant as some kind of dark joke. 

Bendy held his gaze evenly, his fury giving way to cool anger. He crossed his arms, rolling over onto his stomache and letting his tail curl dramatically over his head. “That’s because I am.” He responded disdainfully. His spearheaded tail twitched. He wanted so badly to leap down and show the man what the Toon could do. He really did. There were two problems with that however; one, Joey was much bigger than him, and two, Bendy wasn’t very strong, either. He was made of ink, not muscles. 

“Gosh, Bendy, what’s gotten into you,” Joey remarked. “You’re suddenly really on edge.”

“Why the hell wouldn’t I be?!”

“Hey! Language!”

“Is that really the thing you’re focused on? Language?” Bendy felt his face heating up with rage. He knew that that wouldn’t get him anywhere, so he took a deep breath and tried to clear his mind. “Fine,” he said. “If you’re so  _ innocent, _ then take me to Boris so I can ask him myself.”

Joey smiled. “Fine by me. Come on- he’s on the upper floor.” He offered his hand out.

Bendy climbed down off the shelf, walking to stand next to the deranged man. He glared up at him, smacking the hand away. Joey recoiled for a second, then stretched it out toward the doors. Bendy walked past him, not looking away. Well, until he had to check and make sure he was going straight. In that split second, Joey lunged forward, grabbed the Toon’s left arm- the one he writes with- and lifted him up off the ground.

“AHHH!! HEY! What gives?!” Bendy thrashed about, trying to get Joey to loosen his grip, but the strength of his digits just tightened. For some reason, he was much stronger than the Toon ever remembered him being. “LET GO OF ME!!!”

Joey feigned sadness despite the unwavering grin on his face. “Come on, Bendy, I thought you said you wanted to go see Boris? I’m taking you there. Now come on, let’s go!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ...yeah, I’m really starting to think this coulda had more of an effect if I started the story sooner in the timeline. Oops.
> 
> Oh well. For what it’s worth, I hope I can bring it around! If you’ve been enjoying so far, let me know! Even if you aren’t, I hope I’m at least entertaining you with something to read while we’re all stuck in quarantine lmao. 
> 
> Also: this is technically the end of Part 1, but because of the different formatting I’m trying out here, it’ll all go under the same part until we... get to a specific part. I promise this story gets better.


	5. Change in Scenery

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Joey takes Bendy for a ride.

“N-NO! LET GO! PUT ME DOWN, YA GREAT LOONEY!!!”

The Toon kicked, tried to stab, and tried to just hurt Joey Drew in general, not much, but enough to get him to drop the demon. But because of the man’s larger size (and thus longer arms), he had a hard time reaching. His boots were most effective, kicking the man in the stomach. Joey grunted, but kept his smile, which was eerily large on him. 

“Hmm,” Joey hummed with fake bewilderment, bringing up a finger to tap his chin with his free hand. This exposed a syringe that he had been holding. Bendy hadn’t even noticed that one hand had been hidden the whole time. How could he be th _ at stupid?!  _ “I can’t carry you like this.”

Bendy paused, eyebrows raising in surprise. “Carry me-”

“We’ll have to fix that!” The man then lifted his arm up a little bit more, gaining height, before slamming Bendy to the ground. The demon landed hard on his stomach, free elbow and knees taking most of the impact. He yelled out in pain, attempting to reach his injured joints to try and silence the pain.

But, Joey was faster. He set down the syringe a few feet away, and with his free hand, Bendy attempted to reach for it. He wasn’t sure what he planned to do with it, he just wanted it out of Joey’s hands. This wasn’t the man he knew. This wasn’t the guy he had looked up to his entire living life. Whatever he was planning to do with that needle, it wasn’t good.

Before he could get a good grip on the glass vial, however, Joey slammed his foot down on top of Bendy’s outstretched arm, stopping him. Joey then put his arm under the demon’s waist and lifted him back up. The only difference now than before was that Bendy was facing backwards with no way of seeing where they were going other than his knowledge of what the studio looked like as you traversed it backwards. That knowledge was very limited. He stared straight ahead, which was toward the Ink Flow room. The light that illuminated the whole room was flickering, which Bendy hadn’t noticed before now. Had it been doing that the whole time? Surely it hadn’t been. He’d have noticed.

“Ah, that’s better,” Joey commented, dragging Bendy back to the present. “Now we can get down to business!”

The man started making for the far door, the one that lead out of the music department in which the Ink Flow room was located. Bendy knew where he’d head next- upstairs.

The Toon flailed around, trying to wriggle loose, but it seemed like Joey knew his every move before he made it. Was that because he was a cartoon character? They were all supposed to be predictable. But, this wasn’t exactly a common situation. Was it because this was the man who had created him to begin with? Maybe, but that didn’t seem to be it, either. Bendy had surprised him before, on multiple fronts.

Was he just going mad? Wouldn’t be the first time, he supposed. It was possible. And with Joey acting like this, Bendy supposed that an instant flip of personality was more likely than one would think.

Joey had been rearranging the place since he went mad, and made sure the Toons were kept out. He worked in isolation, and every time a character came up to talk to him, he’d just kick them back out again- sometimes literally- and go back to what he was doing. It was all very strange, and none of the Toons got a good look around. So, they’d pass the time down in Bendyland, trying to forget the crazy creator upstairs. They usually failed and would retreat back to their room near the kitchen instead.

Bendy was in no mood to find out what was going on upstairs. He just wanted to get away. He decided that the trip upstairs would not be an easy one, and so began to thrash even more than before. He fought as though his life were on the line, which from the way things were playing out, it looked like that may very well be the case.

Through the music department they went. The whole time, Bendy barely noticed a flinch in Joey’s demeanor. 

Then, as they were climbing the stairs, a thought hit him.  _ It’s pointless to struggle. _ He quickly ignored that, and continued to thrash. He’d been subjected to negative thoughts before- they’d done an entire episode as a commentary on mental health after the whole thing with Kennedy’s daughter- so he could take it. 

_ Even if you get away, he’ll just catch you again, _ the thought continued.  _ So why try? _

Bendy shook his head to ignore it. He could take a few more. But, no matter how much he tried to ignore it, he knew that that little inner voice was right. Joey was stronger, faster, and more aware than even. Bendy stood no chance against him now. Could he ever have? They’d never seen Joey acting like this before. Was this a norm for him that they’d never seen? Something Joey tried to repress? Or was his little everything’s-got-an-explination-and-everything-will-work-out brain just trying to make this positive? At this point, who knew. 

_ So why try? _ The voice repeated itself. 

Bendy felt his struggles getting weaker, and in a new burst of determination, he kept struggling. No way would he let a stupid little three-word sentence bring him down. He’d been through worse. 

He’d try because he had to. He couldn’t give up.

_ So why try? There’s no point. Even if you get away, he’ll just catch you again.  _

_ Shut up, shut up, shut up- _

_ So why try? _

That broke him. He was getting tired anyway, and his thrashes were getting weaker. He just stopped, now studying the floor. He realized that he had never really looked at the floor before. It was oak, with all its lines and knots standing out vividly. The walls, too, were quite decorated, yet plain. He marveled at it. It was all basically a monochrome yellow, and yet, they were so intricate, the knots and veins standing out against the plainness of the wood around it. He smiled lightly to himself. Such beauty in such a bland place.

The ride went up the stairs, all the way to the top-most floor. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I’m not good at writing summaries. Never have been. Oh well. 
> 
> Anyways. This chapter was originally much shorter (saying something, since it’s still pretty short), so I’m glad I’m not going through and just copy+pasting what I had and not doing anything more. This chapter got so much better because of it.
> 
> That whole back-and-forth bit? Didn’t exist at first. 
> 
> Anyways. Any and all critiques and comments are welcome!


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